I'm not very far ahead of you, and started out with a very cheap acoustic with high action that made it very uncomfortable to get a good start at practicing for a decent period of time before my fingertips were too sore to go on. I bought an electric and found it much easier to fret. I bet that alone discourages first time players who don't know that they can get something that is a lot easier to start out on for a just a few bucks more.

I'm not as much interested though these days with the harder sound from an electric as I once was and have a desire to learn more folk/blues/country acoustic more. I was also living in an apartment which made it a bit more difficult to play with any power. So I ended up buying a nylon string Ibanez AEG10NE electric acoustic. What I liked about that was that the nylon stings have less tension and are easier to fret than the steel string acoustics but the neck is closer in size to steel string acoustics and electrics than it is to other classical guitars.

Later, as my fingertips toughened up, I bought a steel string Ibanez AC300-NT with medium action and I can switch pretty easily between the two acoustics without missing strings. This is the one that I use most often now, but I like the sound of both in different situations and the electric has been sitting in the closet for quite a while now. I keep thinking about pulling it out to see if I can play it more smoothly since I know it's easier to fret and the neck is thinner depth-wise. Maybe I'll get around to it this week.